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Proper Plant Selection

Redwoods grow much too tall for this particular application.

The worst part of getting stuck in traffic on the West Valley Freeway was actually not that I was without a Buick. It was the objectionable view of ridiculously dysfunctional landscaping that flanks newer section of the freeway south of Steven’s Creek Boulevard. After more than a decade and a half, it should be performing much better than it does.

Instead, it has developed far more problems than the older section to the north. Many of the purple leaf plums have been overwhelmed by their own green suckers. Some of the flowering pears also have serious suckers, or have been damaged by the harsh exposure they get on the side of a freeway. All sorts of plants have succumbed to irrigation problems.

The overly abundant micro-trees like purple leaf plums and crape myrtles are not proportionate to a freeway landscape. London planes will eventually be more proportionate, but are almost as useless for muffling the sound of traffic while they are bare through winter. The few functional features of the landscape are can only be seen in the background.

Meanwhile on the relatively old fashioned Junipero Serra Freeway, the landscape does what it was intended to do when it was planned in the late 1960’s. Where there is enough space, mature eucalyptus trees absorb ambient noise all year. Arizona cypress trees do the same where there is less space. Western redbuds and oleanders add a bit of color whether they get watered or not.

Home gardening may not always get the sort of planning that freeway landscapes need, but deserves the same sort of common sense. Much of what goes into the garden will be around for a very long time, so should be selected accordingly in order to function as intended with as few problems as possible. Yet, it is sometimes worth taking minor risks to get trees and plants that get the job done.

For example, crape myrtles have become much too common because they do not get big enough to cause many problems. They are used as street trees because they will not damage pavement; but they do not get big enough to make much shade or to get out of the way of trucks. Honey locusts may not seem like such a good choice because they may eventually displace pavement when they get older, particularly if watered too much while young; but they are more proportionate and out of the way.

Proper selection of plants simply makes the garden work better. Trendy plants like crape myrtles, London planes, carpet roses and dwarf Heavenly bamboos (nandinas) certainly work well in the right situations, but are not necessarily the best choices for every situation. Desired function, proportion (when mature), exposure, potential problems, maintenance requirements and landscape style are just some of the variables that should be considered when selecting new plants for the garden.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Still Going Bananas!

Most of the banana pups and plugs are manageable, . . . for now.

Three more cultivars of banana arrived this week. There are now as many as twenty here. Three are unidentified. Of these three, two could be redundant to others. Of these two, one is merely dormant corms that could rot before generating new foliage. Another is already generating pups. Another is represented by a pair of pups. Eight grew from pups. Twelve grew from tissue culture plugs. Five have already grown too big to remain in the nursery where this picture was taken. At least three can grow more than twenty feet tall. At least two can grow more than forty feet tall. One is Musa ingens, which is the largest species of banana in the World, which can grow more than sixty feet tall! This sounds like fun, but so far, we only intend to add one of these twenty to only one of the landscapes! Three other small cultivars might remain potted in other landscapes, but are merely a minority of the total. Banana ‘trees’ are not exactly easy to accommodate. They want generous irrigation. Their ‘trunks’ grow very fast, but do not last long. Because they can not be climbed, every ‘trunk’ requires a radius that is comparable to its potential height to free fall when it gets cut down. None of the refined landscapes can forfeit areas that are large enough for ‘trunks’ of the larger cultivars to fall. Riparian areas that can accommodate them, and even without irrigation, are forested with redwoods, which banana ‘trees’ are not aesthetically compatible with. I would say that we will figure this out as they grow, but banana ‘trees’ grow very fast. They can remain canned for the rest of this season, but would be very displeased with such confinement next year. It is about to get even more interesting.

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Propper Gardening

Brent’s landscape style is VERY different from mine.

If you have ever seen ‘The Osbornes’ on television, you know how extravagant the work of landscape designer Brent Green of GreenArt of West Hollywood can be. He actually landscaped and has maintained the home of the Osbornes since before the Osbornes lived there, and has managed to fit a more extensive range of plants into the gardens than I have grown in my career as a horticulturist, arborist and nurseryman. His own home garden is just as bad . . . I mean ‘extravagant’, with more diversity of plants than could be found in any nursery.

Would you believe that Brent Green and I were actually college roommates in the dorms? Sometimes I do not believe it either. Nearly a quarter of a century ago, he came two hundred miles north, and I came two hundred miles south to ‘meet in the middle’ and study horticulture at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. He was very trendy for the time, wearing brightly colored mid ‘80’s clothes and a flat topped afro like Grace Jones. (Yes, he once had hair.) I was old fashioned for ten years earlier, just like I am now, with Levi’s, Durango’s and flannel.

As a landscape designer, Brent Green enjoys the diversity of plants, and getting them to fit into practical, functional and yet very enjoyable landscapes, gardens and outdoor rooms. Most of his favorite work is lush and tranquil, with all the fancy and artful curves, ‘meandering’ walkways, water features, extensive diversity of plants, and herds of color! Conversely, I am still a nurseryman at heart, so engage my garden as a commodity with conformity, simplicity and very basic functionality. I grow vegetables, many fruit trees, and many ‘copies’ of the same reliable plants that I propagate myself, mostly arranged in what Brent Green refers to as straight line ‘row crops’.

Yet, our gardening philosophy is the same. We both ENJOY our gardens, and agree that everyone should likewise do gardening on their own terms. Those who do not enjoy gardening should not need to. There are plenty of other things besides gardening to enjoy.

To facilitate the execution of proper horticultural techniques, we should grow only what we are able and want to take care of. What looks good in a magazine may require more attention that we can commit to or would enjoy. I still believe that the legendary horticulturist Robert Leakley was the first to say what many have copied in various forms since, “If you enjoy it, you are doing it right.”

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Road to Nowhere

Music videos were so artistic in the 1980s. Some of them said as much as their associated music. The Talking Heads composed a music video for Road to Nowhere that, although it seems ridiculous now, was captivating at the time. It seemed to be about how life is dynamic with deviations from that which is expected. To me, it also seemed to be about enjoyment of being here now, or perhaps, there then. After all, it was filmed near Hi Vista in 1985, far away and long ago.

I did not experience Hi Vista in 1985, but did manage to get to Littlerock in about 1987, about two years later and thirty miles to the southwest. I am glad to have seen the region then. It has changed so much that I sort of hope to never see it again. Although I do not intend to avoid it if there is ever any reason for me to return, I would prefer to remember it how it was about thirty-seven years ago. There are plenty of other scenic regions of the Mojave Desert to tour.

While in the region, I noticed that a few interchanges on the highways that we drove on were more substantial than the highways were. They were proportionate to the urban development that was expected for the region. The portions of the highways between the interchanges were upgraded later, which is now a long time ago. So much of what I remember as rural is now suburban or urban.

That is what this landscape reminded me of. It is near my formerly rural home south of San Luis Obispo, where I lived while in college. Although this parking lot was here before I was, it has since been renovated. The area beyond was merely pasture occupied by cattle. This long and prominent crosswalk crosses the parking lot as if going somewhere important, only to terminate at this empty landing, which is surrounded by ceanothus. It certainly looks odd. Obviously, the walkway is intended to continue in some form into development that is planned for the adjacent site. I had not been here in about thirty-four years, so should not be surprised by such changes. Perhaps I am no more surprised than I am amused by this landscape and its associated road to nowhere.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 4 Comments

Arrest

Phoenix canariensis, Canary Island date palm

“Put your hands in the air!

That is what this uplit Canary Island date palm seems to be responding to. It seems to be surrounded by police, with their spotlights aimed at it as they proceed with an arrest. It actually seems to be guilty, although it might merely be humiliated.

Brent is a renowned landscape designer in the Los Angeles region. I know that I should not question his work. After all, aside from all the other unusual horticultural work that I do, my primary work is supposed to be on the farm. I merely grow the material that Brent’s crews assemble into their landscapes. I know that Brent knows what he is doing, and his clients appreciate it very much. I just do not quite get it.

Although I happen to be fond of Canary Island date palms in other peoples’ landscapes, I do not think that I would want one in my own garden. I would prefer a fruiting pair of date palms. Even that is a stretch. They occupy significant space, and probably would not produce good fruit here anyway. Even if such palms inhabited my garden, I know that I would not want them uplit like this. Such trees seem to be embarrassed or annoyed about being kept up late. They really deserve to get some sleep at night like everyone else.

Uplighting became popular in the 1970s. By the time that Brent and I were in school, and he was studying landscape design, lighting of various colors had become popular. I can remember a landscape in his Parents’ neighborhood that was done up like a horror movie with red lights. Another was done up like a circus with various tacky colors. Eventually, white lights became most popular, although colorful lights are not completely unpopular.

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Horridculture – Too Busy To Write

The little windmill palm is not so little anymore, and deserves a space in the garden.

It will be a while before I resume blogging as I formerly did, if I resume. I may just continue to share my gardening column here. The situation is too complicated to explain, and too irrelevant to bother with.

So, if I do resume, I hope to write more about my own home garden. I have been negligent in that regard for a few reasons. Firstly, my home garden is not very interesting. I am a nurseryman, so am in the habit of giving away anything in the garden as it becomes appealing. Secondly, my uninteresting home garden has been neglected for too long. I have been too busy with several other obligations that I still can not keep up with. Thirdly, the landscapes where I work part time are far more interesting than what I would grow in my own uninteresting and neglected home garden if it were not so uninteresting and neglected.

In the future, I hope to renovate my home garden and make it more interesting. Seriously, all those interesting species that I bring back but do not give away from Southern California, the Pacific Northwest and even the Phoenix region deserve a comfortable garden in which they can perform as they should. Seven cultivars of banana grow fast! It would be unhealthy for them to remain canned much longer.

Because I know nothing about landscape design, I do not know how to renovate my home garden, but can figure it out as I proceed, even if most of it is as simple and utilitarian as it had formerly been. Palms do not conform to a simply utilitarian garden, so do not leave me much choice about incorporating them as aesthetic elements. It should be fun. At least that is what I continually try to remind myself.

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Conformity Is No Simple Task

Patching bald spots within Iris moss with Scottish moss might look . . . odd.

A combination of modern horticultural apathy and too many choices was probably the demise of conformity in home gardens. Formal hedges or even informal screens of several of the same plants are nearly obsolete. Ironically, long and low barrier hedges and so called ‘orchards’ of identical trees planted in regimented rows or grid patterns have become common in large landscapes in public spaces.

Those of us who still crave formal hedges, paired trees or any such symmetry in our home gardens must be more careful with the selection of the plants that need to conform than would have been necessary decades ago when there was less variety to complicate things. It is just too easy to get different varieties of the same plant. Only plants with matching cultivar (cultivated variety) names will necessarily match. (Yet, on rare occasion, even these are inaccurate.) For example, ‘Emerald’ arborvitaes will match other ‘Emerald’ arborvitaes, but will not match ‘Green splendor’ arborvitae, no matter how they resemble each other in the nursery.

Plants that are identified by their characteristics instead of by cultivar name are riskier. Blue lily-of-the-Nile could be any one of many different cultivars with blue flowers. It is therefore best to obtain all lily-of-the-Nile for any matching group from the same group in the same nursery at the same time. What will be available next week may actually be a different variety with a different shade of blue and different foliar characteristics. Nurseries bring stock in from so many different growers.

Adding new plants to replace those that have died within established hedges or streets flanked with the same trees can be particularly difficult, especially if the old varieties are no longer available. The old fashioned yellowish Japanese boxwood that was so common for small hedges in the 1950’s has not been common in nurseries for several decades. Replacement plants are darker green. Some are even compact cultivars or different specie like English boxwood. When lined up and shorn together, they make ‘calico’ hedges.

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Sunlight Is Becoming A Commodity

Sunlight has not changed. Architecture did.

Shade trees are no longer appreciated like they had been. Only half a century ago, they were important components of suburban landscapes. Big deciduous trees shaded broad lawns and sprawling roofs during the warmth of summer. They defoliated to let warming sunlight through during winter. Now, modern architecture would not accommodate them.

Sunlight has not changed. Human interaction with it has. Modern homes are significantly taller, so create bigger shadows. They are closer together, with less garden space that is not within their bigger shadows, or shadows of adjacent homes. Higher fences intended to compensate for the minimal proximity of adjacent homes contribute even more shade.

Gardening can be difficult within the limited space and abundant shade of modern home gardens. Small evergreen trees or big shrubs that obscure unwanted scenery above the fences can also obscure much of the sunlight that manages to get past the infrastructure. Substantial vegetation in neighboring gardens can get close enough to be influential too. 

The primary part of modern homes that is not excessively shaded is the roof, which is not used for gardening. Trees that are proportionate to modern home gardens are not much taller than associated modern roofs. Modern attics are fortunately insulated so efficiently that shade is not important. Besides, many modern homes are outfitted with solar panels. 

Walls and windows of modern homes are efficiently insulated as well. Warming sunlight during winter is therefore not as much of an advantage as it is for older homes, although it is appealing within sunnier homes. Ironically, the utility cables of many modern homes are subterranean, so will not interfere with trees that get too big for their confined spaces. 

Regardless of their functions within their landscapes, even small trees can develop roots that are sufficiently aggressive to displace pavement and deck suspensions, particularly since they are likely to be close to them where space is limited. Turf grass that is thin and wimpy because of insufficient sunlight is more susceptible to lumpiness of surface roots. Because of proximity, neighboring gardens must be considered too.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 14 Comments

Eucalypti Are Innately Drought Tolerant

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Distinctive foliage provided by red ironbark.

Drought is nothing new here. There could be plenty of rain next winter and for years afterward; but eventually, there will be another series of dry winters, prompting rationing all over again. Landscapers and big box garden centers continue with business as usual. It is up to us to manage our gardens responsibly. Besides native plants, aloes, yuccas, junipers and eucalypti are four groups of formerly popular, drought tolerant plants that are worthy of more attention again.

Eucalypti had gotten a bad reputation even before they became popular the last time around. Tasmanian blue gum, Eucalyptus globulus, that was planted so extensively for wood pulp and timber throughout California, is a huge and extremely messy tree. Yet, it is still the most familiar of the eucalypti.

Garden varieties of eucalypti are much more docile. Even though they drop their evergreen foliage and hard seed capsules throughout the year, they do so on a smaller scale. The tall and elegant lemon gum constantly sheds strips of bark like the Tasmanian blue gum does, but does not get big enough to be too overwhelming.

Because they are so undemanding, and some are somewhat messy, eucalypti are best in unrefined parts of the landscape, and away from lawn. Their mess is no problem over ivy or iceplant. They are happiest where other trees might be unhappy. Generous watering actually inhibits root dispersion, and can cause vigorous but structurally deficient stem growth.

Eucalypti innately prefer to be planted while very young, even from four inch or one gallon (#1) pots. Larger (and more expensive) trees, such as boxed trees, take so long to get established that they get passed up by faster growing tiny (and less expensive) trees. Because they are sensitive to confinement, eucalypti are unfortunately rare in nurseries.

The online catalog of Annie’s Annuals and Perennials, which is famous for excellently weird and undemanding plants, features lemon flowered mallee, red capped gum, silver princess gum, bell fruited mallee and fuchsia gum, all in four inch pots. The bell fruited mallee and fuchsia gum are like large but airy shrubbery that do not get much taller than the eaves.